The University’s comprehensive financial aid plan helps moderate-, middle- and upper-middle-income families afford the cost of a Princeton education. The figures below show the average grant, by yearly income, for students at various family income levels in the freshman class of 2014.

Tuition, room and board is $48,580 for 2010-11.

Yearly income:
Up to $60,000Average grant: $48,600What it covers: Full tuition, room and board, and some expenses

Yearly income:
$60,000 to $80,000Average grant: $45,100 What it covers: Full tuition, 71 percent of room and board

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Freshman class reflects commitment to access and affordability

Posted September 20, 2010; 06:00 p.m.

by Karin Dienst

The Princeton class of 2014, selected from a record number of applicants, reflects continued success in the University's efforts to attract a diverse student body and to make a Princeton education affordable to all students who enroll.

"At Princeton, access and affordability are core values, and we are extraordinarily fortunate to be able to hold firm to our commitment to the strongest possible undergraduate financial aid program in a period of significant fiscal stringency," Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel said in her report on class of 2014 admissions at the Sept. 20 faculty meeting. "As the data ... make plain, we continue to be tremendously successful in attaining our goal of making Princeton affordable for any student regardless of family financial circumstances."

The class of 2014 is Princeton’s largest, in keeping with a planned gradual expansion of the size of the undergraduate student body as the University moves toward reaching its "steady state" of enrolling 5,200 students by the 2012-13 academic year. The incoming 1,313 freshmen were selected from a record 26,247 applicants. The number of applicants increased 19.5 percent from the previous record of 21,963 for the class of 2013. Overall, Princeton offered admission to 2,311 applicants, or 8.8 percent -- the lowest ever -- of those who applied to the class of 2014. This compares to 10.1 percent in 2009-10.

The 11 percent expansion of the undergraduate student body began in 2005; 2014 is the second class to have reached the new norm of roughly 1,300 entering students.

This year, 768 freshmen, or 58 percent of the class, are receiving financial aid, with a total of $27 million in scholarships. The average grant is $35,157. The incoming class includes 208 students from low-income backgrounds, or nearly 16 percent of freshmen.

The class of 2014 is the 13th to matriculate since the University initiated significant policy changes in undergraduate financial aid -- including a pioneering "no-loan" policy -- to make a Princeton education more affordable to a broader range of students. In the class of 2001, the last class to enter before the aid improvements, 38 percent of the students were on financial aid with an average grant of $15,064, and students from low-income backgrounds made up 8 percent of the class.

The class of 2014 includes the largest number of students from minority backgrounds in Princeton’s history, with a total of 490 students from American minorities representing 37.3 percent of the class.

The class of 2014 also includes 141 international students, constituting 10.7 percent of the class. The international students represent 47 countries.

The class of 2014 is the third freshman class to be evenly balanced in terms of gender.

The figures for the incoming freshman class do not include the 20 students admitted to the class of 2014 who are participating in the second year of Princeton’s Bridge Year Program, in which they spend a year abroad on service projects. Those students will enroll with the class of 2015. The figures for the class of 2014 do include the 20 students admitted with the class of 2013 who participated in the Bridge Year Program in 2009-10.

According to the Office of the Registrar, Princeton currently enrolls 5,103 undergraduates. (Official opening enrollment numbers will be available in October.)